Will anyone let the unemployed have a credit card.

Newusername1

I'm unemployed (well on ESA)

I have a £500 overdraft which I pay 25% on.

This is the only debt I have, no credit cards, no mortgage (rent).

I'm hoping to pay the overdraft off within a year. The problem is the interest will be say £100.

Is there a 0% say for a year on purchases credit card that I can use to effectively transfer the £500 overdraft to from purchases that they will let the effective unemployed have?.

[Deleted User]

No. But assuming you pay it off equally over the year, interest should only be around £60. Less if you can throw more at the debt.

Newusername1

The interest might be less but some of it will be paid off XMAS (from presents), so the capital amount with probably be say £400 for at least 9 months.

joedenise

Don't think you'll be able to get a credit card whilst on ESA.

I'd be inclined to open a new basic bank account and get your ESA money paid into that and then treat the overdraft as a debt to be paid off monthly as quickly as possible.

Denise

A4445

I think Aqua give cards to people on benefits and low income but the rates are very high, probably not the best option.

Newusername1

I don't want to open a new account, i have 40 years with the bank and actually a £3,500 agreed overdraft limit, if rates are high on the cards well i'm back to square one.

Its not a problem, the overdraft is relatively small and manageable, like I say I have no other debt. I'll work(?) it off in a year.

There's no play here but thanks for your help. I'll have to suffer the £100 a year interest.

Ben8282

joedenise wrote: »

I'd be inclined to open a new basic bank account and get your ESA money paid into that and then treat the overdraft as a debt to be paid off monthly as quickly as possible.

Denise

Why? This would both increase the interest payable on the overdraft as presumably it reduces when the benefits are paid into the account and make the bank more likely to withdraw the overdraft facility when the regular income being paid into the account disappears.
And why suggest a basic bank account? OP is not bankrupt!


You MAY be able to get one of the credit builder/bad credit type cards if you have a regular income but the credit limit will be low and there will be no 0% periods. But if you use the card for purchases and pay in full each month, you will be able to keep the money in your account for longer and therefore reduce the amount of the overdraft used each month and therefore the amount of interest that you pay.

EarthBoy

joedenise wrote: »

I'd be inclined to open a new basic bank account ....

Most banks won't give you a basic bank account if you've already got a current account with another bank.

john2054

Hi Fanny, i'm also unemployed, and i have a number of credit cards. For starting i would recommend capital one, vanquis and marbles. When you move up in the world, you can get a barclaycard. I have this now anyhow...BTW i think marbles and aqua are both owned by the same company (newday)...

jonesMUFCforever

john2054 wrote: »

Hi Fanny, i'm also unemployed, and i have a number of credit cards. For starting i would recommend capital one, vanquis and marbles. When you move up in the world, you can get a barclaycard. I have this now anyhow...BTW i think marbles and aqua are both owned by the same company (newday)...

Did you apply for them when unemployed or are you unemployed now?

p00hsticks

john2054 wrote: »

Hi Fanny, i'm also unemployed, and i have a number of credit cards. For starting i would recommend capital one, vanquis and marbles. When you move up in the world, you can get a barclaycard. I have this now anyhow...BTW i think marbles and aqua are both owned by the same company (newday)...

The problem is that these are all high APRs. Reading the OPs post detail, what they are actually looking for is not just any old credit card but one with an 0% purchases deal and those aren't generally going to be available to new applicants with a limited income.

I assume that the OPs idea is to put purchases on the card and use the cash freed up by this to pay off the overdraft. The risk with that approach is that if they don't manage to both pay off the overdraft and save up enough to completely pay off the credit card balance by the time the 0% period is up they will end up in a worse position than before.